


Realisations

by pigeonfeathers



Series: Knight At The Museum [3]
Category: Night at the Museum (Movies)
Genre: Gen, KATM, Knight At The Museum, i! love! my! neurodivergent! kids!, lance/nicky hinted as always because i love that good good slow burn sorry folks ;D, tilly only mentioned im afraid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 12:08:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10808706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonfeathers/pseuds/pigeonfeathers
Summary: Nicky has noticed some of Lance's unique traits and habits, and hopes to show them that they're not alone, and that they're great just the way they are.Nicky is the best supportive best friend anyone could ask for, and you can quote me on that. Actually, you can quote Lance on that, too.Part of the Knight At The Museum series.





	Realisations

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello! Back at it again with the good old self indulgent night at the museum fics!
> 
> This time I get to go more into these two hanging out and being close, instead of a lot of filling in timelines and background info, and it's so much fun. Again from Nicky's POV as the majority of this series will be, because he is kinda the main focus of it! I love my boy. I don't know if there's really a surprise about Lance in this fic as anyone following this knows how much I shove all my neurodivergencies on them lmao, but I hope people enjoy this! 
> 
> This fic is set after Lance has explored their gender, so yay! They pronouns from now on, like on the blog! There's been a lot of posts on the blog about Lance's gender and stuff so I didn't feel I needed to write a fic about it too, but I wasn't going to ignore it so this fic is all about identities and self exploration and self love and stuff.
> 
> OH as for timelines, we're speeding things up a bit more here folks, so we can catch up with events in real time!
> 
> So Nicky went in summer 2014, the previous fics were set in that year, this one however is late 2015. Lance explored their gender around summer 2015, a year after Nicky arrived. Think it's going to be one fic a year until we're in 2017! I could spend more time going through all the character development, but I think it'll be evident enough in the fics I do post! I wanna get up to 2017 then I can start writing fics and stuff on the blog to go together :D
> 
> (Im dyscalculic so... if i've got the years mixed up from the setting of NATM 3 and things please tell me so I can get the timeline all sorted correctly, but I think it all fits in right! 2017 is three years after the events of NATM 3 as far as I can tell.)
> 
> P.S. the next fic will focus more on feeeeelings. :D

Nicky entered the Great Court to see Anne Boleyn trying to teach Tilly how to play chess, a metal flamingo statue hopping after Trixie, and Lance. Who was sat on the steps looking a bit forlorn.

Pulling his earphones out, Nicky headed over to where the knight was tapping their fingers nervously against the metal armour on their knee. Lance had been experimenting more and more with modern clothes and was wearing an old hoodie of Nicky’s, their hair in a ponytail and their armour from the waist down. Unconventional, but it made him smile to see Lancelot embracing more of the modern world they’d found themself in, in their own unique way, as always.

“What’s up? You look lonely.” Nicky leant against a statue, then remembered the statue was alive when their head turned to look at him, and apologised and straightened up instead, feeling sheepish as the statue walked away.

Lance shook their head, loose waves of hair bouncing against their cheeks. “Want to be alone... “ They trailed off and then shook their head again. Speech wasn’t easy for them today, but that was okay. Now closer to Lance, Nicky could see that they were curled in on themself, head down and looking uncomfortable. A bit more than just feeling lonely, then.

Nodding in understanding, Nicky moved away a bit so he wasn’t overcrowding his friend. “Do you want me to leave or do you want to go somewhere with me?”

“Uh…” Lance squeezed their fists closed and open a few times as they considered this. “Lounge?”

Nicky smiled, watching Lance stand up, sliding their arms out of the hoodie and into the warmth underneath, elbows sticking out under the fabric as they wrapped their arms around their stomach. “Alright. Oh, I brought a rubber duck for you to look at, after we talked about them the other day? You can keep it too, they’re pretty cheap to get.”

Lance nodded, seeming a little happier as the two of them walked down the hallway together, luckily not encountering anyone else or almost being trampled down by Trixie.

Nicky had noticed more and more over the past months that Lancelot sometimes struggled more than the other exhibits. Although it was understandable to be overwhelmed with the new world, and with the realisation of being somewhat fictional and not fully alive, they also seemed to get freaked out by things that Nicky otherwise wouldn’t have noticed. Loud noises, overcrowding, scratchy labels in some of the clothing they’d tried on… it just hadn’t felt good to them and they’d had to get away for a while.

Lance was understandably going to struggle with modern concepts, 21st century slang and technology, but they also seemed to just not get socialising sometimes. They would come out with kinda random comments, always being very honest, and sometimes spoke loudly without realising it. None of these things were a problem; the museum environment was diverse enough that people just accepted everyone else’s differences and adapted to them. 

Nicky had done some research on Lance’s traits, wanting to find ways to help them out as best he could with sensory issues and explaining things better, and he’d found a lot more than just a couple resources. 

He’d mentioned it to Tilly too, who had been super helpful, and he hoped to talk to Lance about it soon. Lance seemed to like having a more solid identity, like when they’d discussed gender and presentation and been able to pick out pronouns they preferred and realise they didn’t have to just be a man, or be a man at all. With Ahk happily destroying all gender norms it hadn’t been long before Lance and a couple others had started exploring their own genders, but with these other traits it had taken longer to pin down any labels for their experiences.

Lance still struggled with the idea of fitting in, they wanted to be perfect and strong, the ideal image of a knight in shining armour, but they didn’t have to be like that at all, and Nicky often reminded them that nobody expected so much of them. Nicky really hoped that he could help Lance realise that it was okay to be different, it wasn’t a problem, and they could reinvent themself.

The two of them were soon at the lounge, and Nicky held open the door to let Lance in, who went straight to the corner of the couch to curl up tight. Nicky went to get a snack of chips, then decided against making any more noise and quietly joined his blond friend on the couch. After a while, Nicky got up to retrieve the rubber duck he’d brought and offered it to Lance, who looked more interested than anyone he’d ever seen when presented with a yellow duck toy. 

“It squeaks.” Nicky commented, when Lance took the duck and turned it around in their hands. Lance nodded in response but seemed to decide against squeaking it, instead preferring to run his fingers over the indents of the wings.

Nicky felt glad for their friendship, for the close bond they had. It was nice to sit in companionable silence with Lance, and it was good to feel he was there for them in some way. It could be hard when his friend became less vocal and more fidgety and uncomfortable, as he didn’t know how best to help out, but it was important to remember that it was harder for Lance with whatever they were dealing with at that time. Nicky didn’t mind at all; he had all the patience in the world for Lance and just felt glad he was at the museum at all and able to be of some support.

“Feeling better, I think,” Lance said, after about half an hour had passed. They never really stayed still for long, but their fidgeting was more familiar than nervous, unhappy twitching, which was good to see. 

“Hey, that’s good.” Nicky sent them a reassuring smile, turning around to lean back against the armrest of the couch and face them. “No rush to talk or do anything, man, just chill. I’m here whatever.”

Lance smiled at that, reaching over to put a hand on Nicky’s, doing one of their dramatic gestures. “Thank you, Nicky.” Nicky just kinda shrugged and smiled, never really knowing how to respond to sincerity, but he liked seeing he’d made Lance smile. “Sometimes I get like that, I feel like I’ve… powered-down, but not for sleeping, just that my mind shuts down. Everyone was making too much noise. It’s not fun.”

Nicky frowned sympathetically and sat up a bit, patting Lance’s hand. If he felt his face heat up a bit when Lance squeezed his hand before pulling theirs back, a small smile on their face, well, he tried not to think about the implications of that. There were other things to be focusing on at that time. “Lance, are you up for talking about stuff?”

“What kind of stuff?” Lance had copied Nicky’s posture and was looking over at him from across the couch too, a curious expression on their face.

“About these shutdowns, about when things don’t feel good for you, or when you find things hard and other people don’t so much. They’re all things in common, actually. They’re connected.” Nicky hoped he was explaining this right. Lance was watching him in interest, one hand wrapped around their knees and the other attempting to tuck loose hair back into their ponytail.

“I’ve got a thing you can read about it, if you want?” Nicky slipped his phone out of his pocket, gesturing with it to Lance.

“I don’t know if I can do that at the moment,” Lance was frowning deeply, looking troubled.

Nicky wanted to roll his eyes; trust Lance to always feel bad when they couldn’t do something, even for the most understandable and valid reasons. “Lance. That’s fine. You wanna do something else instead?”

Lance was quiet for a moment and Nicky could see their eyes narrow and widen as they thought hard. “Can we watch the chess game between Tilly and Anne? Can you play chess?”

“Yes and yes, but I’m shit at at, I’ve not played for years.” Nicky replied, waiting for Lance to get up from the couch first so they didn’t feel pressured to get up and leave instantly.

“I’ve never played it before in my life. It’d be good to learn, but I don’t know if I’d ever get the hang of it.” Lance stowed the rubber duck away safely in the large pocket in the front of their hoodie as the two of them set off for the Great Court, to the quiet corner the chess game was happening in.

“Maybe I’ll teach you sometime,” Nicky thought aloud, although he’d only ever joined the chess club at school to try and find other nerds to join his D&D club, so he didn’t remember all that much about the game. “Although checkers is more fun and easy, and you can play that on a chessboard too.”

“More fun and easy… we should do that one instead.” Lance replied, a jaunty spring back in their step again, much to Nicky’s happiness.

“Yeah. Let’s go see who’s won that game first.” A sly smile made it’s way onto Nicky’s face. “I’ll bet a packet of Polo mints that Anne wins.”

“Oooh,” Lance smiled back at him. “I bet… your packet of Polo mints that Tilly wins. I have faith in her. Also, I don’t have anything of my own to bet.”  
“You’re on.” Nicky would be keeping those Polo mints anyway, he was sure of it. Plus, he’d share a couple of them with the other anyway.

(Tilly won. Lance let Nicky have some mints as long as he bit into them and wore them like pretend lip piercings first. 

He did.)

-x-

The conversation wasn’t brought up again until over a week later.

(To be fair, Nicky had forgotten about it for a while, and Lance likely had too. Whoops.)

“Oh, Nicky! I want to talk to you!” Lance flung the door open, in usual overzealous fashion, and was soon stood next to Nicky in the staff kitchen, as the short guy got a can of coke from the fridge.

“What’s up, O Enthusiastic Knight?” Without warning, Nicky pressed the cold can to Lance’s face, then chuckled as they yelped. Every single time he did it, and every single time Lance would jump away in shock and fail to frown at him for long without laughing too.

“The thing you wanted to show me a while ago.” Lance began, waving their hands around as they tried to vocalise their thoughts. “I’ve been thinking about it since then, I’ve realised I don’t know anyone else here who does the things I do. Am I okay?”

Lance’s bright smile and enthusiasm had turned into an anxious look and tightly closed fists at their sides. Nicky hadn’t seen that doubt and uncertainty coming, and he moved forwards to give Lance a one-armed hug, not wanting to overcrowd them but still wanting to comfort them. “There’s nothing wrong with you at all, not one bit. Don’t be silly, Lance. You’re awesome, and I don’t say that to just anyone, so you better believe it.” 

Lance hung their head as Nicky pulled away, although now they seemed to be pouting for the sake of it because they were confused, instead of looking genuinely upset. “Then what’s going on?”

“My depressed ass needs to sit down, c’mon, I’ll show you in there,” Nicky gestured towards the lounge across the hall from them, and the two trekked over and were soon back in their usual positions on the comfy couch.

“I doubt you’ve heard of autism or aspergers before?” Nicky began, tapping at his phone to find the right website page. He looked up to see Lance looking completely baffled. “It’s hard to explain, because I’m not autistic and I’m no expert. But… it’s a neurological thing, like my anxiety or depression. Instead of developing it, you’re born with it, though, and it makes you unique in all sorts of ways. Here.” Nicky held out his phone towards Lance, who took it and started scanning the page on the screen.

“Common autistic traits… autism is a spectrum… stimming… I don’t understand…” Lance was still pouting a bit, and Nicky patted them on the arm reassuringly.

“Well, you actually have a lot of these traits. It’s likely you could be autistic, so I thought I’d let you read some things about it… it’s up to you what you do with the info, I just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone in doing what you do, and it’s okay, and it’s not bad or wrong. You label yourself however you want, like we said. I just thought it would be nice to recognise that this part of you has a name, and there’s all kinds of autistic communities out there and things that can help you to just, I dunno, get through life easier and feel better.”

Lance was nodding in response to Nicky’s words, although their eyes were still firmly focused on the screen, and they were now reading carefully. 

“Like, stimming? That’s repetitive actions, stuff autistic people do to focus, or relax, or express emotions.” Nicky explained, and Lance looked up at him. “Like when you close your fists tight, or play with your hair, or squeeze or feel the rubber duck.”

Nicky smiled and nodded as Lance got the duck in question out from in the pocket of the skirt they were wearing. They’d kept it around since the day they got it, and had named it Beakey McBeakface, thanks to the suggestion from Ahk. “I don’t really notice I’m doing it.” Lance commented, stroking their fingers over the plastic. “I feel really aware of it now… ooh, that’s weird. I don’t have to stop, do I?”

“No!” Nicky shook his head emphatically. “Do it as much as you want. There’s things called stim toys and fidget toys which can be anything you like to stim with, though there’s certain ones that a lot of autistic people like, which I can get for you, if you want. Spinner rings and stuff.”

Lance had returned to nodding, looking deep in concentration as they returned to reading the words on the phone screen. “Unusually intense or focused interests…” The knight read aloud, then paused in thought. “Like how I want to read everything about the paranormal and cryptids?” Nicky nodded, realising himself that that was likely a special interest of theirs. “Well, there’s nothing unusual about it, it’s really really interesting!” Lance said indignantly, shaking their head in disagreement.

Nicky laughed. “It’s not unusual for you, but not everyone has such strong obsessions. But there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s great that you have such a deep interest in that stuff, and I learn a lot from you.”

“Sensory sensitivities…” Lance continued, then looked over at Nicky again, eyebrows raised. “That’s me! That’s what happens with some loud noises! Or just those bad ones that sound scratchy.” Lance pulled a face at the thought of that. Nicky found himself smiling as he watched the other read the list and occasionally look over at Nicky and grin, or look surprised. It was nice seeing the recognition on their face, the understanding that they weren’t as alone as they might have thought. 

“Difficulties sustaining friendships…” Lance read out slowly, looking between the phone and Nicky as if to check that their existing friend was still there.

“Everyone is different, and every autistic person is different, don’t worry if you don’t relate to some of the things or they don’t always apply or whatever.” Nicky hurried to reassure them. “It’s just about seeing what you relate to, finding things that you understand and people who understand how you see the world.”

Lance soon finished reading the list and held onto the phone for a moment, looking lost in thought, before handing it back to Nicky. “This is really… good. I didn’t know I needed a name for it, or to know it was understood and okay, but it’s good.” They were looking a little emotional, eyes wide as they started fiddling with the hem of their sweater.

“Tilly really wants to chat to you about it, when you want to.” Nicky told them, smiling as Lance started grinning, although they still looked a bit shocked, but that was understandable. They’d just discovered things about themself and realised there were other people who got why they did things in certain ways, and it must’ve felt a bit overwhelming. There was more to talk about, more to look at, but it was about when Lance wanted to do those things, if at all. Although, judging from how enthusiastically they nodded in agreement to talking about autism with Tilly, they did want to.

“Tilly’s sister is autistic, so she knows a lot about it, she can explain stuff better than me. She’s going to be different to you, her sister, but there’ll be things you have in common too. Tilly helped me learn more about the misconceptions and the activism side of it and autism self advocacy and things… there’s a lot to take in, but one step at a time, yeah?”

Lance chewed on their bottom lip for a moment then smiled. “Yes. I’m glad people know about this thing and these things I do.”

“Hey, you know what I always say, Lance?” Nicky nudged them to get their attention as he handed them the TV remote. Some time spent chilling and zoning out to sitcoms was probably a good idea.

Lance took the remote, then tried to throw it and catch it. They dropped it, but Nicky still applauded them for trying. Besides, apparently clumsiness was a common autistic trait, so Lance had a valid excuse. Even if they could do some impressive swordsmanship. Or, as Lance liked to say, swordspersonship. “What?”

Nicky pointed over at his friend with both hands, giving them the finger guns. “You do you, boo.”

“I do me, Nicky.” Lance pointed back at him, then laughed at their words. “That rhymed too!”

“You’re awesome, dude.” Nicky told them, settling back to watch whatever they put on TV.

Lance couldn’t stop grinning.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, I literally wrote this whole thing after posting the last fic at like 2am, realising I really wanted to write about Lance being autistic as it's so important to me and canon tbh. Being shoved into a confusing world you don't quite understand or fit in is such a metaphor for autism imo.
> 
> I write in google docs not Word, so I only see the word count once the fic is posted and it's so weird they're all just over 3k words???? I guess my brain can only produce that much of a story at a time lmao.
> 
> I have 3 more fics basically completed and ready to post, so no more randomly writing new fics for the series, and back to the regularly scheduled posting of already completed and planned ones! Hehe, whoops, I get carried away when it comes to these two...


End file.
